PiPO X9 Review: A Successful PC/Tablet Hybrid?

The PiPO X9 is a hybrid tablet/mini PC that runs both Windows 10 and Android 4.4. It also features a 1920×1200 pixel touchscreen. How good is this unique hybrid PC/tablet? Keep reading my PiPO X9 review to find out!

PiPO X9 Review: Design

If you’ve seen the PiPO X8, you’ve seen the PiPO X9. The new device is essentially its predecessor enlarged.

The PiPO X9’s design is a matte black edge that’s dominated by its 8.9 inch touchscreen. There’s a Windows logo at the bottom of the screen that acts as a capacitive Windows key (or Home button in Android).

All the PiPO X9’s ports and buttons are on the back and right of the device. On the back, there’s a micro SD card slot, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a HDMI port, Ethernet and DC In.

The right side houses the power button, volume rocker, 2 additional USB 2.0 ports and the 3.5mm audio output port.

Both the left and right sides have small speakers. They’re capable of putting out decent volume but, like most small speakers, they lack bass and sound hollow.

Thanks to its high resolution and (relatively) small size, the 1920×1200 panel looks incredible. Cramming all those pixels into its 8.9 inches makes everything look razor sharp. It’s also reasonably bright too.

PiPO X9 Review: Using It

When I first plugged it in, the PiPO X9 booted automatically. You’re shown the familiar OS selection BIOS we’ve seen on other dual boot devices where you can choose to boot either Android or Windows. There’s a 10 second countdown, after which it’ll automatically boot into the last used OS. Unchecking the box in the top-left corner will hide the OS selection screen on subsequent boots.

Windows 10 on the PiPO X9 works well, with the Intel Z3736F handling Microsoft’s OS with ease. Windows 10 was activated and there’s about 13GB free out of the 20.7GB Windows partition.Windows is essentially unmodified, with PiPO only adding the WinToAnd app that allows you to boot into Android directly from Windows and reactivate the OS selection screen. A switch to Android took around 53 seconds.

The PiPO X9 features a HDMI out port and its practicality depends on the OS being used. Under Windows 10, the TV acts as a second monitor so you can mirror the displays, extend the desktop across both monitors or use only one.

Android isn’t really designed for dual monitor setups, with screen mirroring being the only option. I couldn’t find any way of disabling the integrated screen under Android. As I mentioned in my PiPO X8 review, Android’s not really designed for dual screen setups yet.

PiPO X9 Review: Android ROM

Android is essentially stock, with only the “OSSwitch” button in the notification shade added that boots you back to Windows. The Google Play Store works and Android’s rooted out of the box.

If you’ve used Android 4.4, it’s pretty much the same Android experience we’ve seen before. Interestingly, the included video app did seem to automatically switch the refresh rate and turned off the integrated screen when connected via HDMI making it a bit more friendly than normal.

The ROM did have an annoying issue where after audio played, some slight hissing could be heard for a few seconds after the audio stopped. It didn’t happen at all under Windows, so I’m suspecting it’s a bug.

PiPO X9 Review: Media Playback

Media playback was tested under Windows 10 using Kodi 15.2 via HDMI.

Video Codec

Video Performance (Kodi 15.2)

1080p 3D SBS H.264

OK

1080p 3D ABL H.264

OK

1080p30 H.264

OK

1080p High Bitrate H.264

OK

1080p60 H.264

OK

720p50 H.264

OK

1080i25 H.264

OK

4K 30FPS H.264

OK

4K 60FPS H.264

Unwatchable (Video lags behind Audio)

1080p24 HEVC

Unwatchable

1080p VP8

OK

720p Hi10p

OK

1080p Hi10p

OK

1080p MPEG2

OK

720P RMVB

OK

1080p VC1

OK

Unencrypted Bluray ISO (Sintel)

OK

Media playback was pretty good, with only 4K 60FPS and HEVC content failing to play due to a lack of hardware decoding support on the Z3736F chip.

In Kodi, automatic framerate switching worked perfectly during testing. Deinterlacing performance was good, without any noticeable artifacts.

I’ve had a few requests to specifically test 23.976FPS content. With AFR switched on, 23.967FPS content played back without any noticeable stuttering.

5.1 audio passthrough in Kodi also worked.

PiPO X9 Review: External Storage

I didn’t have any issues watching videos from my NTFS-formatted USB thumbdrive and 2.5″ USB HDD.

PiPO X9 Review: Gaming

To test gaming performance, I installed 2 games from the Windows store – 1 2D and 1 3D title:

Gaming performance was typical of the Z3736F. The less demanding Jetpack Joyride was nice and smooth. Beach Buggy Racing was playable at maximum settings, though lowering the graphical settings led to a much better experience. Using the internal screen saw a drop in performance due to the slightly higher resolution of the panel, typically hovering around 30 frames per second.

Gaming Controllers and Bluetooth

My Tronsmart Mars G01 was recognized as a Xbox 360 controller and I was able to use it in Beach Buggy Racing.

PiPO X9 Review: Networking

To test out networking performance, I used iperf (iperf –t 60 -c SERVER_IP -r) to test networking bandwidth in both directions. My router is approximately 5m away, with a single wall between the router and the device. WiFi performance is heavily impacted by a number of factors so your performance may vary.

Wireless Performance

Wireless performance was reasonable, with upload and download speeds of 19.8Mb/s and 37.0Mb/s download respectively

PiPO X9 Review: Benchmarks

Windows Benchmarks

3DMark

PCMark

Benchmarking was done on the internal storage, offering solid performance.

PiPO X9 Review: Thermal Performance

Thermal performance was tested using HeavyLoad, a freeware application that simultaneously stresses the CPU and GPU. Testing was conducted using the internal screen at maximum brightness, as this situation would cause maximum heat inside the unit.

After 30 minutes, HWiNFO reported the SoC temperature as levelling off at 74°C without any throttling. Ambient temperature was 21.3°C.

PiPO X9 Review: Power Consumption

Windows (HDMI)

0.5W

4W

4.8W

8W

10.5W

Windows (Screen)

0.5W

4W

7W

10.8W

12W

Android (HDMI)

0.5W

4W

3.1W

12W

12W

Off

Standby

Idle

1080p30 Video in Kodi

Under Load

Should You Get One?

The PiPO X9 is an interesting device that works well. As a mini PC, it handles Windows 10 well, multimedia playback was great and Android worked well for those who need to use Android apps. Thermal performance was solid too, which is often a concern with some mini PCs.

I found the integrated screen pretty handy in some situations, particularly as a kitchen PC for recipes or at a recent party where it acted as a music control panel.

However, the Android ROM still has a few rough edges and the screen may not be useful to some.

Ultimately, if you’re in need of an inbuilt screen, the PiPO X9 is an decent contender as a PC/tablet hybrid.